Determining the blood sugar level in a patient by using an implantable sensor and an electrical functional adhesive bandage

Abstract

An implantable sensor includes a hydrogel, a glucose-binding protein and a reference molecule. The binding affinity of the reference molecule for glucose differs by at least a factor of ten from the binding affinity for glucose of the glucose-binding protein. At least one of the electromagnetic behavior and the fluorescent behavior of the glucose-binding protein and the reference molecule change when glucose is bound. An electrical functional adhesive bandage includes a measurement element for measuring at least one of electromagnetic properties and fluorescent properties. The bandage also includes a first communication element for wireless communication. Together, the implantable sensor, the bandage, and an evaluation device, which includes a computation unit, a display and a second communication element for wireless communication, form a kit for determining the blood sugar level in a patient.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An implantable sensor comprising:
 a hydrogel;   a glucose-binding protein; and   a reference molecule,
 wherein a binding affinity for glucose of the reference molecule differs by at least a factor of ten from a binding affinity for glucose of the glucose-binding protein, 
 wherein at least one of the electromagnetic properties and the fluorescent properties of the glucose-binding protein changes when the glucose-binding protein is bound to glucose, and 
 wherein at least one of the electromagnet properties and the fluorescent properties of the reference molecule changes when the reference molecule is bound to glucose. 
   
     
     
         2 . The implantable sensor according to  claim 1 , wherein the glucose-binding protein and the reference molecule are arranged in different regions of the hydrogel. 
     
     
         3 . The implantable sensor according to  claim 1 , further comprising a reflective layer. 
     
     
         4 . An electrical functional adhesive bandage comprising:
 a measurement element configured to measure at least one of electromagnetic properties and fluorescent properties; and   a first communication element configured to communicate wirelessly.   
     
     
         5 . A kit comprising:
 an implantable sensor including a hydrogel, a glucose-binding protein, and a reference molecule, wherein a binding affinity for glucose of the reference molecule differs by at least a factor of ten from a binding affinity for glucose of the glucose-binding protein, wherein at least one of the electromagnetic properties and the fluorescent properties of the glucose- binding protein changes when the glucose-binding protein is bound to glucose, and wherein at least one of the electromagnet properties and the fluorescent properties of the reference molecule changes when the reference molecule is bound to glucose;   an electrical functional adhesive bandage including a measurement element configured to measure at least one of electromagnetic properties and fluorescent properties, and a first communication element configured to communicate wirelessly; and   an evaluation device including a computation unit, a display, and a second communication element configured to communicate wirelessly.   
     
     
         6 . A method for determining the blood sugar level in a patient comprising:
 implanting a sensor under skin of the patient, wherein said sensor includes a hydrogel and a glucose-binding protein, wherein at least one of electromagnetic properties and fluorescent properties of the glucose- binding protein changes when glucose is bound;   positioning an electrical functional adhesive bandage on the skin of the patient, wherein the adhesive bandage includes a measurement element configured to measure at least one of electromagnetic properties and fluorescent properties, wherein the adhesive bandage includes a first communication element configured to communicate wirelessly;   measuring at least one of the electromagnetic properties and the fluorescent properties of the glucose-binding protein with the measurement element;   wirelessly transmitting a measurement result to a second communication element of an evaluation device via the first communication element; and   calculating the blood sugar level in the patient from the measurement result and a reference value established for the patient.   
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 6 , further comprising determining the reference value by considering at least one of the electromagnetic properties and the fluorescent properties of the reference molecule measured by the measurement element. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 6 , further comprising determining the blood sugar level in the patient by examining a blood sample to establish a blood sugar level and using the blood sugar level as the reference value for a number of implementations of the method. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 6 , further comprising running a computer program on a computation unit to implement the method. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 6 , further comprising running a computer program of a computer program product, the computer program stored on a machine-readable medium, on a computation unit to implement the method.